Building Community and Context-Specific, Antiracist Programs That Support Student and Faculty Learning

• In Event: Preparing Exemplary Teachers and Leaders for Every Child: Building a Network of Institutions to Inspire a National Movement

Abstract

Recently, voices in the teacher education community have drawn attention to issues of race and equity that have been underexplored in research around which the field has coalesced (Philip et al., 2019) such as core and high-leverage practices (e.g. Ball & Forzani, 2011). Given the centrality of social justice and equity to the deeper learning framework, it is necessary to explore the practices and questions with which member institutions are engaging to place equity at the center of their work. Highlighting the practices of two member institutions, both of which place teacher candidates in long-term community-based field experiences to build their knowledge of and capacity to work within diverse racial and ethnic communities, this presentation will explore the lines of inquiry, “What does it look like for a program to be equity-focused and a social justice, anti-racist program?” and “What sorts of community relationships support equity-based practices that restore humanity?” Presenters will focus on both candidate and faculty development in their exploration of the three central questions.
Institution 1, an apprenticeship program on the West Coast, will present its model for the intentional construction of an anti-racist teacher preparation program, which includes parallel candidate and faculty development strategies. Teacher candidates engage in a year-long equity, diversity and inclusion course where they excavate their own identities and positionality while exploring how to disrupt inequitable student outcomes, dismantle oppressive systems and structures in schools and facilitate anti-racist learning environments. At the same time, faculty in the program strengthen their own pedagogy by participating in a diversity, equity and inclusion professional development strand. They also engage in professional learning communities where they collectively examine student work, which has been shown to lead to professional growth among educator preparation faculty (Brody & Hadar, 2010).
Institution 2, a two-year residency program in a large Midwestern city, partners with community organizations to excavate, examine, and shift teacher candidate’s perceptions of the city’s communities and its members. Students are assigned, as part of a small group, to a Community Based Organization (CBO). Working with a CBO allows them work in and with communities alongside organizers who have been working towards community-led development. Through this experience, students learn first-hand about community knowledge and determination from the CBO. The program deeply values its relationships with the CBOs and appreciates their partnership as it prepares teachers to work in an urban environment. The partnerships the program has established also speaks to how candidates and the program itself enters into community space, positioning themselves as learners. The institution is cautious about power relationships, intentional about positioning community partners as scholars/co-teachers, and is transparent about that dynamic. This is important to the work of humanization (Freire, 1996) an institution must practice and model for students.

Authors

• Kay Fujiyoshi

• Kelly Wilson, High Tech High Graduate School of Education